


A Sense of Duty

by sahrmael



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Ignis is a Good Friend, ignis is the best mom friend and he should be praised for it, ignis worries for noctis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27288712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahrmael/pseuds/sahrmael
Summary: Noctis has not once given voice to the sorrow and love he bears for both his father and Lady Lunafreya. But he need not do so. Ignis, ever watchful, already knows the truth.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Ignis Scientia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Kudos: 10





	A Sense of Duty

At every hour of the day, Ignis _worries_.

He is practiced at masking his emotions, in particular during these troubled times, and does so dutifully. There has been much of late which serves to cast doubt and uncertainty upon the shoulders of his charge, least of all the innumerable favors he has electively undertaken with which to serve the people these many months.

Ignis fears the prince spreads himself too thin, seeking any and every opportunity to distract from his need to mourn, and to hide himself away from even those he trusts the most. With the rest of them, still he laughs and smiles, teases his comrades on the best of days, but Ignis knows the prince well enough to recognize the look of dissonance in his eyes.

By no fault nor choice of his own, Noctis is in too deep and beginning to feel the drain.

Were it but possible to change that.

Not long before all of this, Noctis had been genuine and carefree, a young man resolved to live a life of relative ease and peace within the Crown City until the day came at last for the Lucian mantle to descend upon him.

Certainly, they had all imagined that day to come about very differently, with the lot of them at the side of both king and country as his Highness was quietly laid to rest. It was to be then that gentle Noctis, grown and practiced in the ways of his ancestors and beloved by the people, would take up his father's station and preserve the Insomnian Crystal as had King Regis before him.

Regrettably, it seems, the Fates have elected to rewrite the fable of Lucis in a very different light.

The discordance with which it has all occured – with a rapidity that must make the prince ill to think on – has thrown their merry quartet into the depths of the unimaginable. There are still no words with which to comfort the prince, and so shall none be spoken.

It has grown worse with time, the manner in which Noctis isolates himself, and Ignis sees the way in which he carries mourning in his heart. He saw the hesitation in his steps at Caem, likely weighted down with the knowledge and regret that his father would not be present at Altissia to see his only son united with the Oracle.

The prince _loves_ the Lady Lunafreya. Ignis has known this since the day his young charge first returned from Tenebrae, ever elated at the prospect of seeing her again. In the years that followed, he spoke of her fondly and often, most certainly wasting his days conjuring daydreams in which he had chance to show her about the Crown City.

How long Noctis has truly been in love with her, Ignis does not know, though it matters little. He loves Lunafreya as intensely as he has ever loved anyone. But as they linger indoors, shielded from the onslaught of evening rain that mirrors the inside of Noctis' heart, it's a damn shame that Ignis can almost _touch_ the ache radiating off the prince with each sleeping breath.

Tucked squarely away beneath the comforts of his sheets, Noctis Lucis Caelum is now all that remains of a centuries-old legacy, save it be for but a few scattered relics. Try as he may, Ignis cannot fathom the weight thrust upon the shoulders of the prince, and is so resolved to watch and serve as best he can.


End file.
